IT was a story of possessiveness and jealousy which ended in murder. It has become too common.

John Gallagher, a post office van driver of 22 years, had been going out with Anne Gillespie, a student aged 18, since she was 15. The relationship was stormy. He was very possessive and did not get on with her family. She told relatives she was afraid of him and complained to gardai that he had raped her.

She told him she wanted to end the relationship. He objected, but she persisted.

Then, on September 18th, 1988, she and her widowed mother, Annie, were visiting her grandmother in Sligo General Hospital. Her uncle, aunt and three cousins were with them. John Gallagher drove up to their car and killed Anne and her mother with a .22 rifle.

He was charged with murder. In the trial in July 1989 he admitted killing the two women but pleaded he was insane at the time. Conflicting psychiatric evidence was heard.

By a 10 to two majority the jury accepted his claim, and he was found guilty but insane. Technically, therefore, although he admitted the acts, Gallagher was judged not guilty.

He quickly started campaigning for his release, and in 1989 embarked on a legal challenge to his detention, claiming he was now sane. His counsel, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, made the first of many applications for his release in December 1989.

The relatives of the two murdered women objected and sought independent legal representation in any hearing.

This first hearing in the Circuit Criminal Court was adjourned because the Supreme Court was being asked in another case to rule on who had jurisdiction for releasing people convicted of crimes but found to have been insane at the time.

In this case the Supreme Court found the judge did have jurisdiction, but counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions continued to argue that the decision was a matter for the Executive, the Government.

In December 1990 Judge Richard Johnson ruled that Gallagher should continue to be detained in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum "until the pleasure of the Government of Ireland is known".

This decision was appealed by the Government to the Supreme Court, and that case opened there in January 1991. In it the Attorney General and the DPP took opposing views: the DPP arguing that it was for the Government to decide whether and when to release him, the Attorney General stating it was a matter for the courts.

In February the Supreme Court ruled it was indeed a decision for the Government.

In May the same year Gallagher was back in court, demanding, through Mr MacEntee, that the Government inquire into his detention in Dundrum. A three member committee was set up, which recommended to the Government that his continued detention was "in both the public and private interest".

Two years later Gallagher was again in the High Court, this time seeking a judicial review of the committee's recommendation. A second committee was set up. This found that he was still suffering from a personality disorder, but that he was progressing. It recommended vocational training and psychotherapy, but was against his release. It also recommended that his case be kept under review.

Gallagher continued to go to court seeking his release. In February 1995 the High Court reiterated the `view' that this was for the Government to decide.

In April that year it emerged that the Inspector of Mental Hospitals had submitted a report to the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, stating that he considered Gallagher to be no longer insane. This report was later withdrawn.

Then, a year later, in April this year, Gallagher was back in the High Court seeking his release. During that hearing the director of the Central Mental Hospital, Dr Charles Smith, revealed that he could not justify his continued detention because, in his opinion, Gallagher was neither ill nor dangerous.

But the Gillespie family applied for his continued detention. Mr Patrick Maguire, Anne's uncle, who had been with her when she and her mother were shot, said he feared for the lives of himself and his family if Gallagher was released. They sought the right to have their views heard by the court before a decision was made.

They were refused this at the High Court hearing on the question of Gallagher's release, although the court did hear their reasons for seeking it, and the fact that they had their day in court was itself unprecedented.

This High Court hearing on Gallagher's detention then went ahead, ending on July 23rd with a reserved judgment. This judgment, delivered yesterday, brought to an end (for the moment) 5 1/2 years of legal battles.